Life & Lies
by DuskAshleaf
Summary: Juvia finally starts believing that she's getting somewhere in life. Lucy's turned over a new leaf and Gray might even like her! But is everything actually moving as smoothly as she's imagining it to?


A/N: Here's my first Gruvia fanfic! I'm super excited! Constructive criticism is always welcome. :D

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><p>Juvia peeped from behind a rock, her well trained eyes sweeping the scene in front of her looking for her precious Gray-sama.<p>

Random garments lay scattered on the ground informing her of the fact that her beloved had passed through here quite recently.

She quickly followed the trail with haste picking up his clothes on the way.

-X-

'Really Gray! You're such an idiot!' cried the blonde as she threw her hands up in exasperation. 'You said the bandits were last sighted here!' She sat down on the warm sand with a huff.

The dark haired man gulped, not a stranger to Lucy's anger that often rivalled even Erza's.

'They were! The villagers were sure this is where their lair was!' He said in a lame attempt to save his hide.

'But they aren't!' screamed Lucy bursting into a fitful rage. 'It's seven in the evening and there's not even the slightest signs of a hideout anywhere! We've been walking for more than ten hours now. I refuse to take another step!'

The ice mage groaned as he realized that further protest was going to fall upon deaf ears.

'Fine then. We'll stay here.'

Lucy looked at him incredulously. 'Are you kidding?! In the middle of nowhere?!' She screeched.

'Yes here.' Gray said with finality putting the fear of getting his ass kicked by the celestial spirit mage at the back of his mind. 'It's getting dark. Heading back will be pretty dangerous. I rather stay here for the night than get ambushed by the bandits.'

She blinked at him but quickly followed it with a curt nod. She had more than enough sense to realize that he was right. These sand dunes were well known for the large number of criminals it was plagued by. 'Alright. Let's set up camp on top of that outcrop. We'll be able to keep a look out from there.' With that she began making her way up the slope.

Gray heaved a sigh of relief. No lumps on the head and all bones intact. That went much more smoothly than he had expected. He then turned around to follow her to the place they were planning to spend the night.

-X-

All this, quite unknown to the duo, was actually being witnessed by a certain blue haired woman in an exceptionally jealous and infuriated fashion.

Juvia sniffed in an injured manner, an air of contempt surrounding her.

How dare Lucy do this to her! Especially when she had told her only a few days back with her face the color of Erza's hair that she was in fact in love with a certain salmon haired man and definitely not her Gray-sama. Juvia had in exchange quite generously told her about her undying adoration for the ice mage (though Lucy's response to this revelation was far from satisfactory. She had simply rolled her eyes at the sky and laughed before patting her on the shoulder in a fond way).

Now that she had finally gotten over some of her insecurities, Lucy just had to go and stab her in the back. Her blood boiled as she remembered the happenings of the day before.

She had been sitting by her precious Gray-sama and in general chatting about the happenings of the guild feeling rather content and satisfied with life. She had been talking quite fervently about how she believed Mirajane may have a thing for Laxus when he had suddenly interrupted her merry prattle.

'Juvia?' He said.

She stopped and looked at him inquiringly.

'Yes Gray-sama?'

'I-I think you know that Erza's on one of her visits to Crime Sociere, Natsu's got food poisoning and that Lucy's taking care of him. So I was wondering…' At this point he trailed off refusing to meet her gaze.

Her heart was pounding in her chest. Yes! He was finally going to ask her! This was too good to be true! The few times that they had gone on a mission alone together, it had always been because of the type specific requests (water and ice combos were apparently very much in demand) but this time she had checked. There were no such requests up on the board. He was for the first time going to genuinely ask her out on a mission!

'Would you mind coming on a-' What he was going to say was cut off mid- sentence by an enthusiastic voice hailing the man.

'Gray!' Lucy cried from the other side of the guild heading towards them at a quick pace.

They both turned towards the speaker with a ranging sense of annoyance. Gray's was mild but Juvia's had rocketed sky-high.

'Not now of all times!' She thought bitterly to herself.

By now the blonde woman had reached where they were seated.

As soon as she was near him, she thrust a sheet of paper forward at the only male present.

Gray plucked it out of her hand and stared at it before looking up.

'A mission Lucy?'

'Yup!' She answered cheerfully not noticing the glare the water mage was generously bestowing upon her. 'It's meant for two people, one male and one female. It's got a great pay too. Both Natsu and Erza aren't here so we can go for it.'

Juvia felt her heart begin to writhe painfully inside her. That mission would have been perfect for Gray and her! Her hands balled into fists as she fought back her fury.

But Gray frowned at the piece of paper before saying hesitantly. 'Weren't you looking after flame-brain?'

Lucy had the decency to blush. 'Yes I was but he's better now. He told me to go because he knows I haven't paid this month's rent money. Plus he has Happy. He'll be fine.'

He remained silent and continued to look at the sheet as if lost in thought.

Lucy finally losing her patience pleaded softly. 'Please Gray. I need the money.'

Juvia continued to observe him silently with a heavy heart. She knew he wouldn't refuse her. And of course as usual, when it concerned a certain ice mage, she was right.

He heaved a sigh and shrugged. 'Sure. We'll leave at about twelve if that's okay with you.'

Lucy nodded with a grateful smile. 'See you later then.' She said and departed.

After a long awkward pause Gray muttered under his breath more to himself than to Juvia. 'Well, I should get ready I guess.' With that he rose. As he moved towards the guild entrance he stopped.

She sat rigid on her seat almost unable to breathe. Her heart began to race.

He was going to say something to her. She could feel it.

But to no avail. After what seemed like ages he continued on his way without a word and exited the hall.

That was when she decided that even though Lucy was her nakama, she would forever remain her love-rival until the time the celestial mage probably got married. Even then Juvia would have to be cautious.

So here she was. All alone in the world under the impression that everybody was out to get her. Apart from her Gray-sama. He would never hurt her of course.

But yet he was out on a mission with Lucy when he should have been spending time with her.

Betrayal was in the air.

She saw them setting up camp and their voices filled the quiet night air. Not able to bear it any longer, she turned away and slid down on to the soft ground, her back pressed against the uneven surface of the rock. Her eyes welled up but she swept her hand over them before they could overflow. Seeing Lucy with Gray together before both the women's confession to each other had been well…tolerable. But now that both their true feelings were out there in the open and she had finally begun to trust and get to know the celestial mage properly, it brought about more pain than childish anger that she used to feel coursing through her before.

Life just wasn't fair.

Long after the two had gone to sleep on the cliff, Juvia remained in full wakefulness, her troubled mind refusing to let her sleep.

After several minutes (Maybe even hours. Who knows?), a crunch was what pulled her out of her reverie.

Her head whipped around towards the direction of the sound but was unable to see anything due to the darkness. Then suddenly, the clouds above parted allowing the moon to peak out for just a precious second, enough to catch sight of a shadow heading towards where her precious Gray-sama was camping. She was instantly reminded of the bandits Lucy had been talking about earlier that day.

She immediately leaped out from her hiding place without a second thought letting out a shout in the process.

'Water Lock!' She cried.

The person was surrounded by water but then after a heartbeat, the water froze and shattered.

'WHAT THE HELL?!'

Juvia gasped upon hearing the far too familiar voice.

The moon once again took the liberty to show itself and now caught in its light the soaking wet figure of Gray on the sand.

'Juvia?! What're you doing here?!' Gray exclaimed.

Being well aware that it was kind of weird to be found in the desert in the middle of the night, even by her standards, she fumbled for an answer.

'Well…I…I'm sorry Gray-sama. I just-'

She was saved from giving a very embarrassing but truthful explanation to him by quite an unexpected interruption.

The air around them had suddenly turned yellow.

Both pairs of hands flew to their respective throats finding it difficult to breathe all of a sudden.

'I smell sulfur.' Choked out Gray with difficulty.

Juvia nodded her eyes watering. 'We…need to get out…of here.'

Both of them hurtled forward blindly noticing that they were almost completely unable to breathe by now.

But luckily they reached clean air. They crumpled onto the desert floor gasping.

A group of people loomed over them. The moon was out but that didn't make anything easier. They were wearing some sort of cloth around their faces that made identifying them impossible. But one thing was clear from their attire. They were definitely a group of bandits.

Gray and Juvia got up after regaining a bit of their energy.

The two people standing in the front of the crowd talked in whispers before the one on the left jerked his head towards the duo.

The bandits immediately came rushing towards them brandishing swords.

There were about fifteen of them but nothing that they couldn't handle. They were a weak bunch and the whole situation became a whole lot easier when somewhere in the middle of the fight Lucy joined in.

Soon all the bandits lay on the floor defeated. It hadn't taken much time.

As the three surveyed their victory, their eyes fell upon a single person standing a few meters.

'The leader I believe.' mumbled Lucy.

Gray nodded and Juvia said nothing.

At this point the ice mage turned to the blue haired woman.

'Thanks for the help during the fight Juvia but I think you should stand down for this one. It's our mission after all.'

She nodded feeling hurt. But he was of course right. She had no business to be here in the first place. And anyway, her Gray-sama was capable enough to handle this without getting hurt. She turned around and moved away from them reluctantly to what she considered to be a safe distance.

With her out of the way, the two remaining mages walked towards the leader of the bandits. They were immediately surrounded by the same yellow fog that appeared before.

Worry grasped her as she realized that the fog was the same one from before and it took all of her willpower to stop herself from rushing to Gray's aid.

What happened inside always remained a mystery to her because once the air returned to normal, what met her eyes was Lucy standing with Loke looking at two crumpled figures on the ground. Not one.

She dashed towards them as fast as she could, her fear propelling her forward.

What she saw still haunted her nightmares.

The boss lay on the floor quite unconscious or probably even dead but she scarcely glanced at him. What grabbed her attention was the ice mage.

Cuts covered his whole body and a gash ran down his torso. A dark puddle had formed around him that looked very much like blood. His face was bloody and swollen.

Her breath hitched as she knelt beside him. 'Calm down. Calm down.' She chanted to herself in her head though her first instinct was to wail hysterically. Her hand shook as she took his pulse. She inhaled sharply as she felt a faint throb.

'Alive.' She croaked out to nobody in particular.

She faintly felt someone kneel beside her and stretch their hand towards Gray's limp form. Her control slipped.

She shrieked.

'NO! GET AWAY FROM HIM!' She swatted the hand away and fixed her unfocused, crazed eyes upon the fiend next to her.

An arm stretched out and wrapped around her. She tried to shrug it off half-heartedly but soon succumbed into the comforting embrace.

'Loke, pick him up. Gently. He needs medical attention immediately.' A voice spoke from what seemed like miles away. Fingers ran through her hair. 'I'll take care of Juvia.

A sudden jerk indicated that her body was being moved but she was in no state to care. Gray-sama… He was hurt…Probably dead…

With that disheartening thought, she lost all consciousness.

-X-

She awoke with a jolt, memories flooding her.

'No… This can't be happening…' She clutched her hair her eyes squeezed shut.

'Juvia?'

Her eyes shot up to meet a pair of brown orbs staring at her from the door.

'Are you okay?' Lucy asked softly as she approached her blue haired friend.

The water mage looked at her beseechingly. 'Gray…sama?'

Lucy came over and sat down on the edge of the bed Juvia was lying on. 'He's all right.'

Juvia found herself heaving a sigh of relief.

'But it was a narrow escape. If we had reached another minute late it would probably have cost us…quite heavily.' Lucy cautiously said.

Juvia received the information more calmly than she had expected. In fact there was nothing forthcoming from her side at all.

They stayed in silence for a while before the water mage said something so quietly that Lucy had to strain her ears to hear properly. 'Can Juvia see him?'

'Obviously. But he's still unconscious. Maybe later when he wakes up. The doctor says he is to be left alone. To regain his strength in peace.'

Juvia gripped the bed sheet. 'Now? Please?'

There was something in her voice when she added the 'please' that broke Lucy's resolve. She sized up the broken woman next to her before she said grimly. 'Fine. Not now though. Too many nurses nearby. I'll come at nine to take you to him. Rest till then. You're in no condition to move around you know.'

Juvia nodded never meeting her eyes. The blonde felt troubled. Something wasn't adding up.

As she lay her blue haired friend back down on the mattress, she caught sight of the glassy expression, her eyes listlessly staring into oblivion. As Lucy went out to call the doctor she wondered what was going through Juvia's head at that moment.

-X-

The fight had been extremely one sided. Completely in the favor of the wrong side.

Both mages were blinded and suffocated due to the fog. The boss of the criminal gang landed hit after hit upon both Gray and Lucy. She was taken more by surprise than the ice mage so she had fallen to the ground almost immediately after the first hit wondering what on earth was happening. She had felt so light headed that even considering calling a spirit had not crossed her mind at that particular moment. If it hadn't been for Loke who forced open his gate and kicked the bad guy's ass, they would have all been goners. Apparently the deadly effect of the fog was only restricted to humans.

Once the area had cleared up she had caught sight of Gray. Before she could react, Juvia had been there cradling his head in her arms checking his pulse. When Loke knelt beside her in an attempt to lift Gray's body the way she had screeched was so shocking that Lucy had needed to gather her bearings before she could carefully wrap her arms around Juvia's tense body trying to comfort her. The water mage almost instantly went limp in her embrace.

After that, it was a blur. Loke ran ahead to the hospital while carrying Gray whereas Lucy stayed back with the boss and Juvia. She summoned Virgo even though she almost blacked out at the amount of energy it sucked out of her already exhausted body (thank Mavis for the second origin). It wasn't long before she was at the hospital lying on a bed.

And now here she was, a day hence from the incident, walking towards Juvia's door to lead her to Gray's room.

She pushed it open and was met with the sight of the bluenett sitting up with feet already stuck into the hospital slippers. She was ready to go.

'Come on.' Said Lucy as she helped Juvia stand up. The doctor had said that she had suffered a big shock whose after affect was severe weakness. She could clearly see his meaning as the bluenett stumbled and almost fell.

'This isn't a good idea. We could go tomorrow. You're still really weak.'

Juvia slowly shook her head. 'Juvia must see him now.' She mumbled something more but it made no sense to the celestial spirit mage.

Lucy gave up. 'Not my fault if you faint then.' She said lamely.

Her friend didn't say anything.

With a sigh she took her arm gently and led her out of the room and down the corridor. Gray's ward was only a few meters away.

She opened the door on reaching it and stood aside.

Juvia, with faltering steps finally managed to reach his bedside and collapsed into a chair next to the bed.

Lucy closed the door wanting to give them privacy. She made herself comfortable on the opposite couch and prepared herself for a long wait as she kept her eyes fixed on the door.

-X-

She broke down.

The tears came without any hindrance now that she saw his body. Alive. But yet so…lifeless.

Juvia sobbed into her arms resting on the bed side.

She would never be able to forgive herself. Ever. What she had done was unthinkable.

She had done nothing.

When she saw him on the floor half dead, what did she do? She broke. She didn't help. She went hysterical. Lucy on the other hand (provided the voice in the nightmare had been Lucy), had handled the situation deftly and ably.

Who was she to pine for Gray? Nobody. She couldn't even help save her own supposed loves life.

Shame flooded her but her mind was made up.

Never again. Never again was she going to obsess over Gray. Not for her sake oh no. She would continue to love him. Silently. He did not deserve an incompetent fool like her. He deserved so much better. Someone who could not only provide him with happiness but also safety that she herself could never be able to give him. Someone like Lucy.

This thought made grief engulf her all over again. But she bit back sobs and stood up shakily. This was what she deserved. Her punishment.

She walked over to the door and rested her hand on the door knob and looked at the bandage covered face that was her beloveds. A lone tear streaked down her cheek. A tear filled with sadness, loneliness and above all self-hatred. Then without a word, she turned around and walked out of the room.

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><p>AN: R&R! (Not mandatory though. No dictators here.)


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